Sam turned quickly. "And you, Ferny," he said, "put your ugly face out of sight, or it will get hurt." With a sudden flick, quick as lightning, an apple left his hand and hit Bill (Ferny) square on the nose. He ducked too late, and curses came from behind the hedge. "Waste of a good apple," said Sam regretfully, and strode on.
(quote from The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter "A Knife in the Dark")
The apple sprang back from Bill Ferny’s nose and came to a halt a few paces beside him. Without taking further notice of the apple, Bill Ferny returned into the village to meet up with the Southerner to report the direction in which the Company had left.
A young teenage boy who had been not far behind Bill Ferny in the hedge while he had watched the departure picked up the apple and looked at it. "Thank you, father," he murmured and looked after Bill Ferny. Then he looked back to the apple and was wondering whether to eat it straight away or keep it for later.
A voice beside him disrupted his thinking. "Hey Mat! Want to come into the moor to catch some frogs?" Dol Hawthorn, a hobbit boy only slightly younger than Mat, looked curiously at his friend.
Mat looked surprised at Dol. "I hadn’t heard you sneak up from behind, Dol,” he greeted the younger boy. “Yeah, why not … and I even have an apple which we can take with us as a snack for later."
"Very good," Dol answered. "Maybe we'll find some mushrooms along the way or berries to stock up our supplies". With their minds made up and their "preparations" finished, the two boys made their way into the Midgewater Moors.
Unfortunately, due to the recent passage of the riders, the animals living in the moor, including spiders, midges and "neeker-breekers", as Sam had named them, were disturbed and more aggressive than usual, so the two found themselves besieged and hunted from many sides. "Hoi, Dol" shouted Mat. "I think it is better we return back home."
"No, not yet," shouted Dol back. "We have caught no frogs yet. But I agree we need a rest and I know just the place." With that Dol put himself in the lead and headed to the centre of the moor, and soon a shed or hut of some sort came in sight. "I discovered this place some months ago," Dol said merrily, brushing some of the midges from his face and reached with his hand beside the door into a bracken fern from which he pulled a rusty key. After he had unlocked the door, he slipped inside and pulled Mat in quickly.
The hut's interior was more comfortable than Mat expected. There were three big rocks serving as chairs and table, a fireplace and flat spot for a bed roll with a small stack of firewood in the corner.
Dol grinned and pulled out his pocketknife and offered it to Mat. "There! How about half of that apple now?"
Mat laughed. "You are amazing." With that, Mat cut the apple in half but kept hold of the core housing the pips in it and passed one half to the hobbit. "I wonder who built this hut?"
While Mat chewed, Dol answered, "I don't know. Maybe one of those strange men wandering around."
"And it can be only two foolish younglings who intrude," an amused, strange voice said from the door behind them.
The two boys jumped up and stared at the door. There stood a man of indefinite age, clad in dark green clothes, sturdy brown leather boots, and a brown woollen hooded cloak. He also wore a belt with a pouch and two sheaths to the left and right, one of which contained a decorated dagger and the other was empty, because the long sword that usually lived in there was in the man’s hand. Two keen grey eyes were fixed on the pair before him.
"A- a – and who may you be?" Dol asked with a stutter.
"That should be for me to ask," the ranger, for such he was, answered, "since you have broken into our home of sorts."
The two boys had the grace to blush and look embarrassed.
The ranger laughed again."But ... you have been seen before and at least you, Mat Ferny, are known to us by name and you, young hobbit, have been seen here before indeed. I am Aegnor of the Rangers, as you suggested, young one." He nodded to Dol. "And I have come to take you back to Bree. The moor is no place to be today and especially by night. I am afraid that I must interrupt your picnic."
Dol looked sheepish and Mat surprised. "But how do you know my name?" he asked mistrustingly.
"Many things are known to us, young one," Aegnor replied. "It need be of no concern or cause to worry for you." He smiled reassuringly. "The day is getting late and you don't want to be caught out in the dark here, I can assure you.” With that the ranger opened the door, but held out his hand to Dol. "The key please," he demanded.
Reluctantly, Dol handed back the key.
Aegnor locked the door and put the key in his belt pouch. "Mat, you bring up the rear, Dol in the middle. Follow me."
Aegnor led the two boys past dead spiders and various other creatures back through the moor towards the lights of Bree. In sight of the west gate, Aegnor stopped. "There we are. I will wait here until you are safe inside," the ranger said. "I hope you have learned your lesson." He looked sternly at the two boys. "It is mere luck that I was in the area, but do not count on that every time you go off wandering in the moor. There is more loose in there than you know about."
"Yes, sir," the two boys answered in a duet. With that, the ranger disappeared back into the growing dusk.
"Well, no frogs," Mat said, disappointed.
"But a cracking adventure," Dol answered merrily. "Do you still have the apple core?"
Mat nodded and handed the core to Dol.
Dol pulled him to the bush where they had met earlier in the day and buried the apple core there. "May this apple tree be as strong as our friendship and bear rich fruit," Dol said and shook Mat's hand who looked a bit awkward but then grinned, pleasantly surprised. Content, the two boys returned to their respective homes.